Musicscan: Please state your name, and what you do in the band at first, and tell us, what Moving Mountains have currently been up to?

Moving Mountains: Hello. My name is Greg Dunn, and I sing & play guitar in the band. Currently, we're at home relaxing and regrouping after having just finished 7 weeks on the Vans Warped Tour. We're also prepping and rehearsing for our fall tour with Thrice.

Musicscan: How does your band feel about the development of having post-hardcore-emo-rock become the “new” thing in indie-music? Where do you see the place for Moving Mountains in the grand scheme, and what makes your band stand out from your artistic point of view?

Moving Mountains: I actually haven't necessarily seen a new trend in post-hardcore-emo-etc bands. It still had its golden age in the early 2000 era. I think there's been an increase in bands writing good music, and caring less for the image, or the style that they're striving to achieve. I think given our band's influences, we tend to stick out. I don't know where our band stands in the grand scheme of things, but that's also because we like to take things slowly and one step at a time. When I look back at what we've done, is when I can sort of understand where our band exists.

Musicscan: Was it different writing this new album “Waves”, now that you are more skilled with your instruments and have toured a lot?

Moving Mountains: Touring had the biggest influence on writing Waves. Essentially, it was our "live" album. Our previous works were very studio based. Waves was an album we wanted to have represent our energy, and experience live.

Musicscan: A more general one: Where do you see the line drawn between progressing on what you do well, and completely offering a new direction or sound?

Moving Mountains: We get asked that question often, but always worded differently. We're a band that likes to evolve. We realize that each record we write is different from the next - and that's something we take pride in. We also like to challenge ourselves. I'd rather struggle and work towards writing a record that I envisioned, but knew I wasn't the best at it writing - then write a record that came easily.

Musicscan: What do you feel you accomplished with finishing work on “Waves”? Did you meet your own expectations? And what have listeners to expect from Moving Mountains this time?

Moving Mountains: I feel accomplished about what our band had done during the time of writing and recording Waves. To me, it's not just the songs on the record - but the entire evolution of our band, and our accomplishments during the time. Like every record I've ever worked on, or anything I've ever worked on, it never fully reaches your expectations. If someone tells you otherwise, they're probably lying. I'm very happy, and feel very proud of that record - but there's always room for changes, and I feel like there could always be more.

Musicscan: Do you feel that Moving Mountains have found its “own” sound already, or are you still evolving and searching for it?

Moving Mountains: Always searching.

Musicscan: What did you guys do differently on “Waves” that you hadn't done previously to keep things progressing? It is kind of a more diverse, intense and in a way more experimental release…

Moving Mountains: The major difference was it being written among four people. Pneuma, and Foreword - our previous releases - were written and recorded with a more "studio" mindset. Waves was very raw, very live oriented. Not a whole lot of post production was done, in comparison to our older material. It's more song oriented as well.

Musicscan: Were all songs for “Waves” already written and ready for recording when you entered the studio, or did you guys rearrange and improvise parts till recording?

Moving Mountains: All the songs were written. But very, very stripped down. We had about 5 songs that were pretty much finished, that we had demo'd and sent to record labels years back. The rest were written acoustically, and sort of fleshed out during the recording process.

Musicscan: The songs on “Waves” cover a lot of bases musically - there's something for everyone within the indie underground from hardcore to emo and even rock. Did this happen by accident or intention?

Moving Mountains: By accident - but I think it's just a representation of all the music we listen too.

Musicscan: When you strip Moving Mountains down to its core, what would you say is the essence of the band?

Moving Mountains: That's a tough question. And I don't know if I have a good answer. But I suppose one thing I work towards is writing songs that can be stripped of all its production, all its reverb/delay/instrumentation/effects - and you hopefully still have an inspiring "song". All the other stuff is just there to bring life to it. Do I think I achieve that completely? No, not really. But I certainly try.